"As thro' the Artist's intervening Glass, / Our Eye observes the distant Planets pass; / A little we discover; but allow, / That more remains unseen, than Art can show: / So whilst our Mind it's Knowledge wou'd improve; / (It's feeble Eye intent on Things above) / High as We may, We lift our Reason up, / By Faith directed, and confirm'd by Hope: / Yet are We able only to survey / Dawnings of Beams, and Promises of Day."

— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jacob Tonson
Date
1704
Metaphor
"As thro' the Artist's intervening Glass, / Our Eye observes the distant Planets pass; / A little we discover; but allow, / That more remains unseen, than Art can show: / So whilst our Mind it's Knowledge wou'd improve; / (It's feeble Eye intent on Things above) / High as We may, We lift our Reason up, / By Faith directed, and confirm'd by Hope: / Yet are We able only to survey / Dawnings of Beams, and Promises of Day."
Metaphor in Context
As thro' the Artist's intervening Glass,
Our Eye observes the distant Planets pass;
A little we discover; but allow,
That more remains unseen, than Art can show:
So whilst our Mind it's Knowledge wou'd improve;
(It's feeble Eye intent on Things above)
High as We may, We lift our Reason up,
By Faith directed, and confirm'd by Hope:
Yet are We able only to survey
Dawnings of Beams, and Promises of Day
.
Heav'n's fuller Effluence mocks our dazl'd Sight;
Too great it's Swiftness, and too strong it's Light.
(p. 208, ll. 17-26)
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Text from The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Ed. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. Second Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).

See also Poetical Miscellanies: The Fifth Part. Containing a Collection of Original Poems, With Several New Translations. By the most Eminent Hands. (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1704), pp. 205-9. <Link to Google Books>
Theme
Mind's Eye
Date of Entry
02/25/2004
Date of Review
06/04/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.